


Red

by Irym



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Doctor Who Fusion, Doctor Who AU, Gen, Implied Doctor, Implied TARDIS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 09:43:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10000364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irym/pseuds/Irym
Summary: If the Doctor were real, in our Universe, but we'd gotten some details a bit wrong.





	

I hated running this last stretch. Uphill. Well, I hated running in general, but it was the only exercise I could afford. Either way, if I wanted to get home, it was uphill for the last 100 metres. I guess it could be worse, it could have been uphill both ways.

As I crested the highest point of my battle, the small clearing to my left looked different. A red box sat in the middle, towards the tree line, a bit hidden, but so brightly coloured, it was hard to miss, even from 20 metres away. How bizarre. Perhaps they were installing an emergency phone out here, but a London style phone box? Even for our weird little community, it seemed absurd. Though, to be fair, the fellow down the road was fined last year for building a “spaceship” on his front lawn.

I slowed down as I came level with the clearing & as I got closer to the box, I noticed there was a man standing to the side of the box. He held himself in a stance that could be admiration or appraisal, or perhaps sheer bafflement, as he looked at the phone booth. Maybe it was the “alien man” from down the street, perhaps this year he was going for a new fine, “Illegal Public Art Installment.”

As I passed him, he turned around, watching me walk pass. I gave a polite nod of acknowledgement.

“Why is it always blue?” he muttered, sounding slightly aggravated.

“Pardon?” I asked

“Why blue? It’s always blue.” He said, a bit louder than his previous statement, as he took a step towards me, now giving me his full attention.

“The phone box?” I stopped about 2 metres away from him, standing in the street. “Do you mean the phone box? Because it isn’t blue, it’s red.”

“Yes, it is. A very fine shade of red, too.” He quietly spoke, a strange, affectionate tone used when he complimented the colour. “So why do you people always make is blue? Very vexing…” he trailed off to a mumble as he turned back to the box, extending his arm to the door.

Curiously, I watched him start to open the door, giving a small exhalation of confusion & amusement.

“Need to make a phone call?” I chuckled, believing that a phone box installed only within the hour since I started my run couldn’t possibly be in working order.

“Not quite.” He said as he opened the door. He turned around then, framed in the doorway, back lit by a light source I couldn’t see. Oddly, it looked much bigger on the inside than a phone booth should.

“You know, I am partial to running. Perhaps next time, I’ll join you. Could be fun. Till then, if you wouldn’t mind, pass the word on… about the red?” he lifted his brows in a quizzical expression.

“Sure!” I chuckled, “I will let anyone know, who might be confused, that it is a very lovely shade of red. Not blue at all.” Gesturing, as I said it, to his unmistakably red phone box.

“Good on you.” He winked & closed the door.

How odd, I thought. Normally, the panes on those boxes are clear glass but it seems our new neighbourhood addition had chosen opaque panes for itself.

As I walked pass, headed the last bit of the way home, I smiled to myself a bit at the weird moment in time. As I had passed the box & it was no longer in my field of vision, I heard a strange noise coming from behind me. Perhaps that was the phone ringing? I turned to look & ended up staring, a bit dumbfounded.

The box was gone! The clearing was empty, looking exactly as it had when I started my run. The phone box had completely vanished.

After a moment, my brain trying to process & make some sense of things, or just stop stammering in confusion, a small spark of imagination came to life. Surely not… but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made! I giggled to myself as I finished walking home.

“I bet he still has a pool in the library!”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan fiction. Please be gentle. It's from a dream I had. I hope it's ok. It's made intentionally vague on the Doctor so you can pretend it's whichever one you want. :)


End file.
